The Academy of Unseen Arts
by Say You Wont Care
Summary: Finding out the dark secrets of their families, Reggie, Archie and Betty are shipped off to a school they never knew existed. -For Stud


The Academy of Unseen Arts

:a Regchie Fic

First off, I am Reggie Mantle.

Second, do you need to know anything else?

Well, if you're that needy for my attention and details about me you should know that I recently found out that I am not just dashingly handsome and great at sports. No, on the contrary, by some twist of fate it would seem that I am a witch. And before you get all judgey, 'witch' is not a feminine term.

Besides, I make being a witch look good.

Since my parents spilled the beans, turning myself, Archie Andrews, and Betty Cooper onto the fact that we are all the next generation in a long line of magical beings or whatever, we have stopped at nothing to find out the whole truth. The once charming and innocent town of Riverdale was getting darker by the day and it all seemed to have started with the death of my boy, Jason Blossom.

Oh, and Jughead Jones is a werewolf… in fact, all the Serpents kinda are.

I knew those guys were way too fucking creepy to just be like the rest of us.

With the arrival of the Black Hood in town and the deaths of teens rampant our parents saw fit to rip myself, Arch, and Betty out of school and ship us off to some weirdo Academy in Greendale where we would be 'safe'.

Was any place really safe around here anymore? People were turning up dead left and right, there was a serial killer on the loose, and that was just in Riverdale. Greendale had always had a reputation for being a pretty shady place so I was not seeing how some secret boarding school was going to do any good.

Least until I saw it for myself.

Arriving with the other two losers— well, Archie isn't really a loser, but anyways, we made our way up the steps of what looked like an old, dingey white abandoned building, and I rolled my eyes at once.

"What the hell, Betty? This can't be it."

Tossing that annoying blonde ponytail, she fixed me with a look that would have withered lesser men.

"And how would you know, _Reginald_."

I did not like the way she said my name like it was something offensive, but you had to respect Betty on some level, even if she pissed you off. The girl was a knock out and she took shit from no one, not even me… though she should really revise that because taking anything from me is a gift.

Had circumstances been different I would have totally tried to bang her.

No doubt.

But as fate would have it, Red here, your one and only golden boy of chastity and virtue (a little less on the chasity side since he was totally banging our succubus teacher, and yes she was literal a succubus), Archie Andrews was currently my boyfriend.

Don't ask me how the hell _that_ happened. Not my finest hour.

True to form, Archie cast me a look over blondie's shoulder as if to warn me to leave her be. Those two were like the worst, protective siblings on earth, almost as bad as the Blossom's. I rolled my eyes at her and looked away with a look that screamed 'why is everyone jocking my nuts today'.

Archie instead fixed his eyes on Betty, "You sure this is the place?"

She nodded, "Yeah, my mom was _annoyingly_ specific."

I bet she was. I should be given points for not saying that out loud.

As the two gumshoes in training did their little dance of 'which way did he go George', I pressed on ahead and pushed the door open.

"Holy shit!"

Inside the room was massive and not even remotely abandoned. It spread on in a star formation all centered around a single statue of some goat dude with children around him. Don't ask me what that was about because I don't care to know. The less I know about things that looked controversial the less time I had to spend rolling my eyes.

It seemed Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dum had figured out that I had charged ahead as both of them ran up behind me, gasping in awe. I was first to step inside, noticing the eyes of various students upon me but that was nothing out of the ordinary because surely everyone here knew I was the Magnificent Mantle.

And if they didn't they soon would. Bet on that.

Adjusting my backpack, I was about to press deeper into the room when my path was being obscured. I stepped back at once, looking the culprit over with slight offense for getting in my way and just standing there. His dark hair was styled just so it looked as effortless as my own and his light tan gave him enough of a glow to not be over the top, he was annoyingly good looking… and he clearly knew it.

"I am Nicholas Scratch." He said, smiling at myself, then Betty, and finally eyes lingering on Archie.

I stepped into his path so that he was forced to look at me again.

"I'm Reggie Mantle, I—"

The ballsy brat cut me off, "Oh, I know. I know who all of you are. Elizabeth Cooper and Archibald Andrews, I presume."

Betty smiled as if she was happy someone remembered her, correcting him to how she preferred to be called. From the corner of my eye I could see Archie leaning around me as he, too, told the friendly guy what to call him.

Pursing my lips, chest swelling a little, "So, there a reason you're in my way?"

"Yes," he said, unphased, "I am your student mentor."

Betty grinned, "I used to do that at my old school!"

My eyes were really going to get stuck from rolling them so much.

Nick, as he said to call him, showed us around the school a little bit at a time. After a meeting with the headmaster (a guy who seriously needed to clip his nails) Nick lead us around each of the wings attached to the center chamber. Each wing seemed to have its own thing going and the more we explored the more I got the theme of "Praise Satan'.

It was weird to me at first, thinking of my parents that would drag me along to church every Sunday as people who had once walked these halls. They talked of the 'false god' here and to think that my parents had swallowed all those Sunday's in church just to keep up this appearance of not being witches for my sake.

The Church of Night seemed to be its own entity entirely and the more Nick showed me the more I began to get this. Satan was the provider of power here, the one who lifted witches to higher elevation. To sign his book was considered their deepest of honors.

I was also beginning to notice how Nick continued to give his little tour like only Archie was in the room and the guy was seriously cruising for a bruising. Maybe I did not wear that Archie was mine on my sleeve, but he was, damnit. I refused to share him with that fine ass Veronica Lodge and even if this guy was a looker he would get the same treatment.

He lead us to the girl's dorms, leaving Betty there with a trio that eyed us all like snacks to be indulged in. As we walked away Nick told us about the so called 'Weird Sisters' and their wicked ways as the definitive queen bee's of the school… well, at least until _she_ came.

Annoyingly he did not elaborate on whoever the hell this 'she' was.

"So, this is the guy's dorm." He said, looking directly at Red, "Five bed's to each room, all positioned into a pentagram, naturally. This is you two, and that one over there," he indicated the one across from Archie, "is mine."

"Seriously?" I snapped, ready to start in on the guy.

"Thank you so much, Nick. You've been swell." Archie gave him his best grin, the boyish one that made adults think that he was going to lead us in Bible study and girls cream their panties. "See you in class?"

Really, Archie? See you in class?!

Nick, however, was there for it, "Yeah, of course. Anything you need just say the word." He finally seemed to remember I was there, "You, too, Reggie."

"How considerate." I said through a clenched jaw.

Why was Archie the captain of the 'save a hoe' police? I could have bowed up to the guy, marked my territory a little, but instead Archie had to be nice and make this harder. Nick left us then, standing alone as I dropped my bag onto the bed that had been indicated as my own.

"You know I am gonna beat his ass, right?"

Archie laughed as if I were kidding, flopping down onto his bed and looking around the room like it was his own Hogwarts. As cool as everything was, and it _was_ cool, I was skeptical of the combination of something I had been programmed to believe was wrong vs learning the truth of my abilities and my lineage.

"Come on, Reg," he said, sounding just as giddy as he looked.

"What?"

He grinned wider, "We are really at a place called 'The Academy of Unseen Arts! This is our life. We get to learn magic and dorm together. You literally sleep right next to me now."

"Sure you don't wanna be sleeping next to the Latin version of me?"

More laughter spilled from his lips, eyes crinkling in that way they did when he was really happy.

"The Magnificent Mantle isn't jealous, is he?"

I scoffed, "Jealous of what? You're my redhead. Do I have something to be jealous of?"

He stepped up and over to me, making me look at him… cocky little shit.

"Of course not." He said, beaming like he knew how to do nothing else, "But now we don't have to make up excuses to see each other. That's the best part."

Already seeing the flaw in his plan, I smirked, "No, now I just have to find places to bend you over in private so your new boyfriend can't watch."

His face suddenly matched the color of his hair.

I win. Nothing new.

"I bet he's really into that, too. Watching." I looked smug at his blush.

"Reg." He muttered, shaking his head at me and I stopped.

After the two of us were settled we decided, or rather he forced me to, attend the last of our classes 'unofficially'. It was interesting to see the witches all using their powers so freely. They taught spell craft as if it were algebra, potions as if it were science, and by the end of the day I was left with this surreal feeling that I was going to wake up from a dream too good to be true.

With the night upon us I soon found out that while the teachers were away (they weren't really away, just sleeping elsewhere) the students will play. Nick showed us to a little gathering set up by Prudence, the defecto leader of the Weird Sisters. Drinks were being had, students were making out, and the longer I spent there the less it felt like something out of sci-fi movie.

These kids were all just like Archie and I. Even Betty seemed to be settling in and having a blast with the girls that she apparently bunked with. It made the experience of being a witch seem more real, more grounded. I did not think things through too much even on a good day, but even the most carefree of us would have freaked over being a witch.

As the witching hour neared, sitting and arguing with Archie about whether or not we should tell my best friend Moose Mason about all of this, I began to notice that the room was clearing out. Soon, even Nick had disappeared to leave us alone with the other guys that shared our room.

Throughout the night I had seen a few same sex couples all hugged up, and I was pretty sure that Agatha was hitting on Betty when they left, so when Archie leaned over and pressed his lips to mine I didn't fight it. My lips molded to that of the ginger, cupping his jaw and pulling him closer to me on instinct.

Out in the open, I had to say a part of my brain was screaming to pull away, but the longer I kissed the male the more that this seemed right. Archie had a way of doing that to me, of calming the insecurities and making me see what was right about things and everything was right about kissing Archie Andrews.

Hands messing up that head of hair, my minx of a guy rolled his tongue over my bottom lip causing me to smirk. I gently nipped at his bottom lip, about to dive in for another kiss when my bubble was burst by the sound of someone annoyingly sniggering.

"You two love birds need the room to yourselves tonight?"

Both of our heads snapped up, looking in the direction in of the voice to discovering the two boys had been joined by a few other unfamiliar faces… as if anyone here was familiar yet. I cleared my throat, wanting to impulsively pull away from Archie, but gripping him a little tighter to stop myself.

"Got a fucking problem?" I blurted out while Archie frowned at my side.

Some things simply could not be settled by slapping on your Boy Scout sash and sashaying your way to a happy ending. Archie believed that we could all find a way to get along, when I believed people should be put in their place and stay there. No questions asked.

"Maybe," one of them said, stepping forward menacingly.

At that, I stood up and stepped forward myself. As Archie moved to my side, looking from one fact to the other I could already see his fist balling. The peacekeeper even saw that this was a situation you needed to fight your way out of. I was just thankful that Archie could more than hold his own. He had a mean right hook.

In a flash, almost supernaturally fast… actually it was definitely supernaturally fast, we were surrounded. Not another word was spoken as they began to close in around us one step at a time. A hand brushed through my flawless hair and I was squaring up, ready for them to catch all of these hands.

There was no time for all of that however, as every single one of the guys around me was suddenly blasted backwards. One went one way, one went flying _with_ the couch, and all of the others went every other which direction until there was only one person left standing.

My eyes set on the girl as she stood there with arms extended and making it clear that she had been the one to disable our would be attackers. I licked my lips, surveying the damage this small girl had done and then gaped at her.

She was petite with short blonde hair, fair skin, and was wearing a wrinkled pajama pants set that told me she had clearly been asleep before riding in to rescue us. Was I a little emasculated by this? Yeah. But one did not grow up within ten feet of Cheryl Blossom and not learn how to brush that feeling off pretty quickly.

"I thought I made it clear," she said, looking to the groaning boys on the ground, "No more harrowings."

I blinked, "Tha fuck is a harrowing?"

"Who cares." Archie acted fast, grabbing me by my hand and dragging me away and towards the girl.

Pushing my dark hair out of my eyes as I stumbled along in Red's wake, I looked back at the guys that were getting onto their feet and looking at the girl with disdain. She did not seem to care as she turned and ushered us out of the room like she was some seven foot tall security guard.

"You should be alright now." She said, smiling.

We arrived at the entrance to our dorm and Archie was already pulling her into a hug as he released my hand. The guy was a soft touch.

"Thank you, whoever you are."

The girl laughed and gave him an awkward hug back, "The name is Sabrina Spellman, and no need to thank me. They tried to harrow me a day or so ago, or at least the girls did, but I made it clear we were done with that. The ghosts warned me what was happening to you guys."

"Ghosts?" I said, looking around the dark corridor as if they were standing right there.

She turned her kind blue eyes upon me, "Yeah, the ghosts of the children that were harrowed to death. Harrowing was seen as a right of passage here, witches bullying witches, and it resulted in a lot of deaths and the faculty did nothing about it."

"But you did?" Asked Archie.

She nodded.

I was getting the impression that this was truly a big deal. If something had gone on for generations, enough to produce lots of ghosts, then it could not have been easy for her to come in here and just change the status quo. If this were Riverdale and she had tried to mix things up with my Bulldogs I would not have been okay with it just like that, either.

Things were clearly in flux here at the Academy, as well. It seemed that all over Greendale and Riverdale these rippling changes were happening and even a guy who did not care about shit like that could tell.

"Well, I will leave you boys to rest. The boys won't try anything else tonight." She said, smiling still, "Archie Andrews, Reggie Mantle, I look forward to seeing you in classes."

With that, she turned on her heel and skipped off in an almost pixie like fashion. I blinked after her, too dazed by the last ten minutes to fully process what had taken place as Archie ushered me in the room and to our beds.

"I'm sleeping in your bed." Archie said, climbing in, "You know, just to be safe."

That got my attention, a cocky smirk coiling over my lips.

"Yeah, to be safe."

I got under the covers with the redhead, hands splaying over the small of his back and pulling him flush against my body. Lips pressed to his, deciding it was time to finish what I started with him. Never one to respect someone who tried to jump me, I did not care if our roomies walked in. And as Archie moved to straddle my hips, me chasing after those sweet lips, I thought 'yeah, the Reggie could get used to this'.


End file.
